Why Life’s Better as a Servant ... Part 4

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Why Life’s Better as a Servant

Part 4

[NKJV] Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”
Question: “Why does being a servant/minister matter?
Answer: John chapter 13; shows how blessed your life becomes from doing this’

   Jesus gave us the example of a servant when He washed His disciples feet. Leadership should be measured by their willingness to be a servant. Not for want of repetition, our Lord came, NOT for us to serve Him, instead for Him to serve us, as shocking as that may be, then in the end freely giving His life for us.

    1) ’What is life, if not as a servant?’
   What you have known is that, especially as a Christian, there are going to consequences if you have not a servants attitude. . . If not a servant, then you can only be someone whom is self-seeking. This can only lead you down the path to ENVY ~ Jealousy and worst. . .Ultimately today’s society in which we live. You will struggle with, and fail to understand, why you feel this way, this is now the by-product of not taking on a servants life style. Here in the UK during WW11, there was a poster saying ..”Ask not what the Country can do for you .. rather.. Ask what you can do for your Country” .. Just because we are not at War, we ALL should be asking the latter part of this War poster/slogan. Imagine the society we, all over the World, could have?

[NLT] Luke 22:24/30 Strife & Destiny .. “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. 28 “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”

[NLT] Philippians 1:27 “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News”
[NKJ] Philippians 2:2/4 “fulfil my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others”

   If you only ever used 2 verses as a template of how to best be a servant, then I’m sure it'll be .. ‘A good and faithful servant’ you could ware without blemish. So, looking at yourself, and ask ‘where am I at?’ .. then ask 'how can you help/serve others, more than yourself? For instance, like finding someone’s need is great, purchase a food hamper, purchase the food they eat, then send them a hamper/basket. You send/have delivered, without a name on it to say who sent it, who did this kind act.. This is not your glory, but Gods. Facing disunity in your life? Then it’s time to check yourself in the mirror, and ask this hard question .. ‘Am I being a servant like Jesus was?’

    2) Failure to into Ministry

   If your NOT living too serve, then don’t just become another seat warmer, you need to get involved with your Church in some capacity. For we all have attributes our Church can use. There are sadly those who just go to and NOT partake, and just take for themselves saying ..’What’s in for me?’ .. ‘what can they do for me?’ .. As long as they do, behave, this way they will always be left wondering, all because they don’t have a servants heart. John 13 – even the apostles needed to be taught how to be, and what it is to be a servant. The bases of the absence, of not having a servants attitude, causes you to sit back whilst others serve you. They even will go as far as saying .. ‘Sure I’m not needed, look lots of others are there already’ .. ‘I no skills they need’ .. Careful, don’t just be a taker!

    3) Burn out, and those whom are Ministering
   This ‘Burn-out’ comes when it always falls onto a few, doing everything, whilst others sit idly by. Don’t sit back and let other run themselves ragged and into the ground. ASK ..’How can I help?’ .. If you don’t know how, to do something ask, to be shown how. Being involved in the Church is rewarding, may be, you even learn a new skill.

   4) The Church fails to accomplish it has been called to do .. such as Evangelism:- and all the aspects of edification, because a lack of Ministry people. 

   A church only lacks due to there NOT being enough people willing to give their free time being Volunteers ~ helpers ~ Servants. Sadly there is a lack of parishioners coming forth with their free time. Let me ask another question here, if you will . .
Question:- “What if Jesus in His early twenties said, why do I have to do this, when NO one else will help?” & “What if Paul or John or Timothy said why do we bother when NO one else is?” . .

   May be now this is starting to sink in? 

. . Now, having a servants heart will help you become successful at work, this attitude will make you stand out. The failure in Evangelism, has to hurt and up set Christ Jesus, because of the lack of people volunteering their free time willingly. Jesus came to serve us, so much so He left us a model, with instructions on how to become a servant, wow how big is that? The Son who is God’s Son, came to give and to serve us, and make a way, where there was no way, for us to be able to be received by God, through Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thatnk you for giving us your Son so that we may be recieved by you, through His sacrifcie, that we may set free, for we know whom the Son sets free is free indeed. May we not just be hearers of you living Word but also doers, becoming servants at heart, whilst shinning your light and edifying your name. Amen

As it is in Heavenly

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As it is in Heavenly

   One night a child was starring up into the night sky, wondering how one could get up to Heaven? As it was so so far away, as he could see no ladder. He was stood by his wise mother who offered in response …

“Heaven must first come down to you,

then, Heaven must come first into

your heart.”

… We must always remember what Jesus Christ told us in Math 6:9/13…

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10-Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11-Give us this day our daily bread.
12-And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13-And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the

glory forever. Amen.

…. # Please take note – We can never enter Heaven/ until Heaven enters us. For we must have the life of God inside of us before we are ready to dwell in blessedness with God, and turn away from our old ways.

An author, unknown to me, (but known to Creflo Dollar) once wrote….

We are to much in the habbit of looking forward

to Heaven as something that . . WILL BE ..easier-

pleasanter story for us read when we have finished

this tiresome Earth narrative, a Luxurious palace

chamber to rest in after this lifes drudgery is ended,.

In a remote celestial mountain top retreat , where

the sound of restless waves of Humanity, forever

fretting these shores , will vex our ears no longer.”

   It may seem that Heaven is afar off, and we have to wait to experience it’s wonder that waits there for us. But wait, NO, as it begin right here and now, in al we do today – tomorrow – n in what you did yesterday.

   Remember our Lords prayer, where it states ..” Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven “. (v10) ..Just think of that line for a minute, “ on Earth”. It means, in our shopping: work place: in our cars: homes: schools: in our social lives: our times of temptation; our sorrows as well, tell you what lets say EVERYTHING we do and see. The Lords prayer is not to be taken out of our World into Heaven, and to begin there doing Gods will. That’s why it written “On Earth that it is in Heaven” Jesus told us this, that we might just grasp this, He never said something, and immediately recanted (in other words then with drew the statement).

"How do they live in Heaven”

   When we begin our Christian lives on Earth with our hearts and minds and wills estranged from God. Hence why we want our own mercy way doing what we wanted, when – where – when and how we wanted, for our own gratification, not Gods. As we become Christians, now we want our way our way to be a new life is the acceptance of God and Christ Jesus as our King. But, not straight away does the Kingdom in us become fully His. We need to change everything we do and say, this takes time, it does not happen over night. Just as a puppy must be taught to let us know when it needs out to the garden. So we must be taught his ways. Christian growth is simply the beginning of our wills into perfect accord with Gods. It is learning to do always things that please, it is the least we can do after He saved us.

Tennyson wrote…

Our wills are ours, we know not how -

Our wills are ours, to make them thine*

Our wills are ours, Such a profound truthful description of Humanity. For god made us in His own image, yet we still have a free will to do as we wish. This is so God ‘cannot’ force His will upon us, and so left up to us to come freely to Him.

Our wills are ours, to make them thine*

*means yours

   You see God want our wills, but only if we come unto Him freely, without pressure or force, or, spiritual & Christian growth wont happen. It would be like putting a 10ft wall around us, nothing going out, nothing coming in. We have to give all of us, to surrender completely. There’s no use being a footballer if you don’t use a football. Why would you be an Ice-skater if you don’t wear Ice-skates. Is any of this sinking in yet? When we are taught of/by God then daily by His divine Holy Spirit, then with every passing day our faith brings us a step close3r to Gods dream for us on Earth as it is in Heaven.

   Thy will be done”, … This requires our total obedience, both full and complete. It is talking of God word, not just into our hearts, but letting it come out in everything we do and say. It’s letting out Gods way always, sweetly, quietly, with love and faith.

“But the greatest of these is love”

1Corith 13:13

   The divine law is summed up in one word,, ‘Love -Thou shalt love – God is love – As it is in Heaven’ As the lesson are for sure gathered into one, learning the art of love/ing. The best place to do this is, by loving God first. Then loving God begets in us love to all men.

Our wills are ours, to make them thine

   For sure many of us think of only the Earthly side to love? We all like to be loved (it stirs our soul), that is, to have other people love us, and live for us, do all kinds of things for us freely. There is an old saying ….

….It is better have been loved, and lost,

than to have never been loved at all

   We all enjoy the gratification of love, but that is only miserable selfishness if it goes NO further. To receive, to get is Earthly, “As it is in Heaven”, is truly giving. That is what gods loves does, it finds a blessedness in giving….

John 3:16

“God so loved the world that He gave His only

begotten Son”

...that is pure unconditional love. Christ’s love is the purest of all, pours out it’s very ‘life’s blood’, to the very last drop. The one thing that is the essential meaning of loving must always be giving, not that you are looking for a return, that means not receiving in return. We all think that our Heavenly blessedness is often one of selfishness, in other words; what we feel we deserve, and that it will be all enjoyment, and all receiving.

   Please bear in mind, even in Heaven will not be an eternity of self gratification, of the bliss of receiving. Even there, yes especially there, where all imperfections, they will all left behind, love though must find it’s blessedness in giving, in serving others, and in pouring out into other lives.

“. .On Earth as it is in Heaven. .” In the world that we live today, where social media is king. Staying in touch with those we know, anywhere in the World, we still we still find those still sighing, just to have friends, and just to know what it ius to be loved. . .

• Why not it is only natural..

• We all hunger for love..

...one thing craving will become is, totally ‘unwholesome’, slowly passing this and then onto and becoming ‘Miserably-morbid’. Though a great deal more wholesome desire is craving to give love, to be a blessing to others, to pour out the hearts sweet life to refresh weary hearts.

It is Gods will that we should love..

“O..Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments..”

...Isaiah wrote regarding love in 38 17

“..Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness;
But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back..”

...WOW, “What have I done O Lord, to deserve such love like this?” That God ‘is’ willing to do this, yet man kind (Gentiles) never got this then, or even a small percentage of today’s Earth population. I can only say scandalous on today’s population with knowledge read our finger tips, and the Christians who know this and don’t/won’t share, when we have been told to ..

“go out in to the World and preach the Gospel”

...not to sit our bums and do nothing, and make excuses, ‘Oh it’s to windy’ .. ‘they will bring the tone down’ .. excuses excuses.

Whilst sharing this quote, I have to say I’m sure who wrote this..

“It may be only a covetous outreach,

after a blessing which belongs to

another, and without which that

other life must be left wholly and refreshed”

...a great deal more wholesome desire is the craving to give love, to be a blessing to pour out the heart’s sweet life to refresh other weary hearts. It seems to be the mission of some in this world to give not to receive. They are set to shine in the darkness, burning up their own life as lamp oil burns, to be light to other souls. They are called to serve, to minister to wear out their life in giving sweetness, comfort, and to help others , while none come to minister to them, to pour out loves sweetness into their hearts, and to give them daily bread of affection, cheer, and help. In many homes today we find such lives . . . a patient wife and mother, or a gentle unselfish sister blessing, caring for, serving, giving out perpetually loves richest gifts, so why are we so apt in pitying such people.

Our Lord himself, He loved and gave blessed many, in the act He gave his life, but few came to Him a blessing and the sweetness of love in His own soul. For sure it more divine to give love than be loved. At least, God’s will for us is that we should love pouring out our hearts richest treasure upon others, not asking meanwhile for any return...

“ Love is it’s own best returns reward “

...“As it is in heaven” shines before us as the ideal of out Earthly life. Sometimes it is serving others – Sometimes it is quiet patient suffering, or passive waiting. The one great lessen to learnt is to have a perfect accord aligned with the will of God, in every moment of our lives, no matter what that may be.

“As it is in heaven” Heaven may seem far above us today, because for us at the moment the song is too sweet for our unmusical voices to sing.

This life is to beautiful for us, with our imperfect – inharmonious natures to live.

• But if only we are true to our Christian faith.

• If only we strive to do our fathers will.

• If only we keep our hearts open to the love of Christ, and to the help, and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, we shall rise day by day towards Heavens perfections until we shall enter those pearly gates and be like him. For the present our striving and our prayers should ever be.

Mathew 6 10

Your kingdom come. Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Fruitfulness

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Fruitfulness

Here are 4 ways on how become more fruit in your lives

for Christ, even if you’re not yet saved

Ø Before fruit there must be life

Ø There must be an entire commitment to the conditions

Ø Fullness must come before Fruitfulness

Ø The character of the fruit

1)               Before fruit there must be life

John 15  ⁵ “.. I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for

without Me you can do nothing ..”

   As time goes on there are things that Christians tend to forget. Christ is saying here is the He would hope we would open our eyes to stir up emotion. He wanted to remind us, that, He is the true Living One, and has come that we may life, (more abundantly).

   This going to sound, silly, but if want a nice fresh apple/pear you don’t look upon a dead tree, would you? So why not have a true living God that would dwell within you. For, with Christ Jesus in our lives, you would be able to do things otherwise you wouldn’t normally be able too.

   A soul dead in sin … “..you who He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin..” (Eph 2 v1) … can never bring forth the fruits of righteousness. There must be a planting in Jesus Christ first.

“.. You must yield yourselves unto God, as those that are

alive from the dead ..” (Rom 6 v13)

   The fruit of the ‘self-life’ is corrupt, so there for you must crucify the flesh with all its lusts, thus growing in the knowledge of God. This kind of whole hearted surrender to the grace and the power of the spirited God open the way into the heart, and life so God can enter in the works mightily. 

2)              There must be entire surrender to the new conditions

   So what does it really mean to ‘Entirely surrender’? Well, if the roots of the tree does not reach out and spread into the new soil, into which it has been re-planted, then the tree will not prosper and grow into a fine specimen. In Philippians chp’s 3 9 & 10, Paul refers to  “..being found in Him..”, the source of life eternal, he then goes onto to also say “..That I may know Him..”, a growing acquaintance with Him. The branch must be entirely passive to the power of the vines.

“..present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead,

and your members as instruments of righteousness

to God ..” (Romans 6 v13)

   Tell me, I hear you scream at the monitors. Well, it so because we must crucify the flesh unto its lusts, then and only then can we grow in full knowledge of God. We can’t have an air of arrogance though, or prepare for a stumble after stumble, that is until we have an air of humbleness. Once we rid ourselves of this arrogance, then we wil ready for our whole hearted surrender unto the grace and power of the spirit of God, this will lead the way into the heart and life so that God can enter in and work mightily within us. Further ways can be found in …

3)              Fullness must come before Fruitfulness

   In all life there a natural order of events. A gun dog must be trained from a puppy to not be scared of all the bangs from the guns, shouting & noise, and to watch for the right bird falling from the sky, then go and to fetch it on command. So it is the growth of the trees, in that the branch will not bear fruit until it has been filled to over flowing with sustaining sap. Just like a cup will not over flow, that is until it has been filled up.

 “.. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water ..”  (John 7 v38) . . .

 . . . If the rivers are to flow out of us, then the unfailing spring must rise up like a torrent and then fill all within. We must take care though; a sloppy and dissatisfied heart will always produce only a poor and dissatisfying testimony for Christ our Lord. It is no good standing up and saying ‘the Lord saved me from drink’, only to then go out after and by a bottle wine/spirit! You are only fooling yourself, and making a joke of your testimony. For sure all those you told about being saved won’t ever take you seriously ever again. Though fear not all is lost, just you are going to have a fight on your hands, take comfort as you will have our Lord Jesus there to help you in becoming strong.

   If the roots of our being are spread next to the river, by the way of our Holy Spirit, then we shall not cease from yielding fruit.

  

“..For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which

spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when

heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be

anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease rom yielding

fruit ..”  (Jeremiah 17: v8) 

4)              The character of the Fruit

“.. Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine ..”   (Ezekiel 47 v12)  

This following part has 2 part to it …

      i.            It will be new fruit

   ii.            It will be new fruit according to the nature of the tree

     i.            So it will be New Fruit

   The first statement is ‘It will be new fruit’. Here we are told, if we regenerate, replace old branches for new, in doing so we will grow stronger. To stand still after I was saved is actually sin in its self. We were saved to spread the Word, to spread His seed/Word, in time to spread out and help many to glory.

   The second part is ’It does not belong to the unregenerate man’. No one wants to be so hard hearted that you be saved ‘cause a friend is saved’, only to stay as you were before. How do you expect to grow, if you don’t put off your old ways, and you will never grow new fruit, because of it? It’s not the fruit of the flesh, and not the outcome of an energetic self-life.

  ii.            It will be new fruit according to the nature of the tree

    When gathering fruit, like you would not look for Figs in the midst of thorns, Or, gather grapes in the middle of the thistles, would you? Gods fruit cannot be held back because the fruit “.. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ..”  (Galatians 5 v22). But not the fruit of the Christians, the fruit of the spirit, as we can see, is just the likeness of Christ.

 

   You have now become partakers of the divine nature. As a result of the living Spirit, moving sap, with so the image and the characteristics of Christ are wrought in the believers by the living, moving spirit within.

    

 So surely it is the work of God, and evidence of a soul being full possessed by Him. Now I'm sure there is more than one among you who thought this 'Possessed by Him sounded ever so 'demonic-supernatural'. Well, No & Yes. OK stop scratching you heads or you'll have no hair left. No - our Lord is by no means demonic, but, Yes - our God is the only one true supernatural, after all He made the Heavens & Earth, so He could not be Human.

   Where there is the indwelling of the Spirit, there must be infestation of the Christ likeness. It was once said, sadly I know not by whom, that 'Death is the way to life and fruitfulness’.

“.. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if die it bring forth much fruit ..”

John 12 v24  - King James version

Seeing & Believing

 

John 4 v48    Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see

 signs and wonders, you will by no means 

believe.”

 

   This verse is part of a tale about a man’s son who is critically ill. And has travelled some distance, in order to try and meet a guy who creates miracles. It’s a long shot, this is the last he has, (The distance, he had walked, means nothing compared to his son’s wellbeing). Making this journey today is nothing as in a car it would only take 15/20 minutes.

 

   Bare with me if will, but, imagine driving this distance to a Hospital, because you heard of a surgeon who can cure your son. Only to be met such a rebuff. You would be staggered to, and probably you would be angered even frustrated. There’s you who has unlimited riches, but would give it all away to have your son made well-made well again. Because of the station in life your wealth has brought, and am used to people saying ‘yes’ to. So how knocked back you would be to have been me by such a rebuff.

 

   All be it was a boy who was sick and knocking on death door. Illness has no respect for persons of wealth or station.  

 

 Isaiah 55 v11   Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you 

people see signs and wonders, you will by no means 

believe.”

 

   Yet there is no doubt there is a little explanation, such is our Lords anxiety to purify and strengthen our faith in Him. The rich man’s faith was such that his faith was rested on the miraculous. In this very moment our Lord Jesus wanted show that His ‘word’ carried the same weight as if He was praying over his son back at home. Today we just call home on the mobile to find out there and then if his son had been cured, instead he had to walk/run home if faith that his son was well made so by Jesus. Wandering all the time is he or not well again, it must have been torture.

“If God wanted me to believe, why does He not put a sign

in the sky?”

 

   Faith is a matter of the heart and not merely of the mind. Real faith though is called into being not by an miraculous sign by the word of our Lord Jesus. For if faith was to depend on the visible sign in the sky, though there is great doubt it would accomplish it’s objective.

 

If the hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they

be persuaded that He rose from the dead.

 

   How precious is Faith in the estimation of our Lord and what pain He must have took to produce ~ purify & strengthen it. What may one explanation of many of His strange dealings with the son of man. His great longing is to lead us into the life of Faith. But what is Faith? Even though most exercise faith in our lives, in various degrees, what we are conscience of or not.

 

Have Faith and believe

 

The first time we see the word believe used is in . .

Genesis 15 v6    “. .And he believed in the Lord, and

He accounted it to him for righteousness. .”

. .according to the literal meaning of the time ‘Believe’ was to mean ~ to stand one self, by leaning on someone or something ~ this being so we lay our weak and changeable selves on Gods strength.

 

   At this point I must bring 2 things to your attention. .

1.     True faith will have God as its Origin & Objective. Remember ‘Abraham believed God’. In John 6 our Lord Jesus refers to it as ‘Work of God’. Hinting that it is God who give the true inclination of mind in complete trust.

2.   Our Faith in God is an act and NOT a mere sentiment. It is not something that easily or simply comes to a man. He must believe in something or someone other than himself.

 

. . I would be a miss if I did not point out that there is a close relationship between Faith & Will. Observe here, that, in the literal and strictest of senses of the word Faith ~ is that we must use effort. Whereas Will ~ is to make it so. My summation comes but in 3 stages, which I hope will cement what Seeing & Believing has been about.. ..

Stage 1 : Belief in Him our Lord

Stage 2 : The Saving belief

Stage 3 : Believing in the Lord

 

Stage 1 : Belief in Him our Lord

…To begin with this would lead us to an acceptance of His Revelation. All be it that it shows us, not, tells us how to be saved. Though many Christians can testify, that the book of Revelation paints a more vivid picture than Michael Angelo’s cysteine chapels ceiling. Of what will happen during the end times. Whilst it is possible for someone to have faith, yet still be lost? I say yes. True faith is something far far more than this. Therefore the 2^nd stage it is far more imperative that this next stage be reached . . via . . simple belief in Him our Lord Christ Jesus our saviour

Stage 2 : The Saving belief . .

Hebrews 10 v39  “. . But we are not of those who

draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the 

saving of the soul. .”

. .This is where the saving comes in. When I go out and by a chair, I have faith without doubt, that when I come in weary from the day it will hold my weight. Merely believing that the chair will not give on me will give peace of mind, but, ‘believing ‘on’ it, that it will bear my weight gives me peace of mind. This is just one of many instances that we show in our modern living that an unconscious belief in . . the cars we drive . . the coats we wear will keep us dry and warm . . or even this very pen . . that they will do what it says on the tin, to coin a phrase here.

 

Stage 3 : Believing in the Lord . .

   I may believe in the chair to help me become rested and restored. Also as I believe in my car and the pen I write, the same way. But still the car pen and I remain separated and distant, though not so with Christ and my Soul. Believing  . . on . . Him will lead to . . believing . . into . . Him. Becoming one with Him, united to Him be ties of Love & life. What a blessed union this has become.

 

Words will forever fall short and are unable

to describe the union fully

 

 

   Lets say a short prayer I have come across to describe my feeling…

“My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary

Saviour divine”